Friday, August 21, 2009

Italia Italia

Well we are back from Italy and we had such a good time. We left for the airport at 5:30am Sunday morning and arrived in Italy Monday at 8:30am. The flight was long but not to bad. When we arrived at the Italy airport we had to wait for Mauricio, Jodi, Sirlei, and Farah's flight to get in. When they arrived we grabbed a taxi and went to our hotel, it was so nice getting there and changing out of the clothes we felt like we had been wearing for a week. The first day we went to the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and walked around until we ran into the Colosseum. The second day we went to the Vatican and saw St. Peters Chapel, hiked a billion stairs to the Cupola which I am pretty sure we lost about 20 pounds doing, and walked around the city. The third day we went to the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and toured the Colosseum. Everything we saw was amazing, Rome is such a great place with so much history I am still trying to grasp everything I was able to see. The piazza's are beautiful and we loved hanging around them each night and then eating gelato later, which we did every night. We all had such a great time and it was hard to come home.

Italy


This is our hotel it was really nice, it use to be an old mansion lucky family.

I was so excited for a bed to lay down on, no sitting up to sleep anymore.

Sirlei in the airport, she looks a little worn out.

Hano and I had to wait a few hours in the Italy airport for Mauricio, Jodi, and Farah to get there. Dont mind are ugly airplane hair and face.

The Spanish Steps

Ha, she is such a sweetie!

The Trevi fountain, it was really pretty.

Hano and I on the Spanish Steps

Some ruins from ancient Rome.

Hano and I infront of the Colosseum, we didnt get to go through that day because we got there to late, but isn't it amazing.

The Melendez family

She looks so concerned in this picture.

Italy


The Pieta by Michelangelo amazing.

Going inside St. Peters Chapel it was so big and so pretty. There were so many sculptures and paintings.

They say that if you rub the foot of this statue it is good luck, if you notice it is worn down from so many people touching it.

The Swiss Guard

When we were waiting in line to go to Cupola it was so hot so Jodi and Mauricio were able to skip ahead so that Sirlei could be out of the sun and take a little nap.

To get to the Cupola you had to claim so many stairs and they were so narrow. There is also no air conditioning so it was very very hot.

Farah and I ready to pass out from the heat

Trying to have fun while climbing the stairs

Jodi's arms are going to be able to punch through a wall after this trip, but they carried Sirlei all the way to the top.

At the end the view was well worth the climb, I think some of the group would disagree ha ha. I would do it all again though you could see all of Rome. This is St. Peters square.

Rome in the background

Look at this car, wow!! I think I could have picked it up it was so tiny. What a miserable vehicle.

I thought this bridge was awesome. Of course Rome has stuff like this all over, every corner has something pretty and exciting.

This is the Piazza we ate at, there were painters all over the place it was so nice.

Farah and Mauricio chowing down, it felt good to sit we walked forever that day.

The Pantheon. This was a pretty awesome place.

Look how cute she is all cuddle up on her side. She was so good the whole trip, even when it was so hot outside.

This was inside the Vatican Museum, I dont even remember who did it but it is all stained glass. I thought it was impressive.

Hano and I at the Vatican Museum, I am not posting as many pictures of this because I have hundreds but just know it is amazing and overwhelming. There is so much history in this place.

This is the famous Sistine Chapel ceiling. Now we were not aloud to take pictures here but I snapped one before we walked inside. It was so great and almost surreal to be looking at this ceiling.

The Colosseum was really impressive. I cannot believe what they accomplished so many years ago and how it is still standing today.

This is inside it was massive. They could fit 50,000 to 70,000 people inside.

Hano and I

There use to be a floor over all the rooms you can see in the center, what you see now is what was under the floor. The floor collapsed a while ago though. They kept the weapons, gladiators, and animals in the basement rooms.

This is the entrance to Rome, where everyone would enter to see the games.

Picture moment

It was so amazing. The road we are walking on is the original road laid by the Romans.

Hano having a reflective moment on everything he has seen.

Piazza de Popolo


Mauricio and Jodi playing with Sirlei in the fountain. This was our last night in Italy and the weather was perfect.

Farah chillin on the steps

I think that Sirlei was happy to not be in her stroller, what a cutie!

Italy was such an amazing place and I hope we can go back again soon. There are just too many things to see in the short amount of time we spent there.